Synthesis of Porous Nickel Foam Based on Electroless Plating on Polymeric Substrate and Electrodeposition

The main objective of the current study was to synthesize porous nickel foam through a cost-effective method and study its novel applications. Several characteristics such as a mix of mechanical and physical properties with low density, high fluid permeability, and thermal conductivity have made synthesis methods of metal foams attractive in specific applications for researchers compared to polymers or ceramics foams. Foams are either open or closed cells that mainly affect the material properties and end usage. Wide applications of metallic foams in electrodes, heat exchangers, and filters and nickel foams in battery electrodes and catalysts for hydrogen production as clean energy sources are increasingly investigated nowadays. In this regard, the current study aimed to investigate open cell nickel foams synthesized through multi chemical processes including degreasing, roughening, sensitization, and activation methods to nickel deposition over non-conductive polyurethane. To this end, a thicker layer was coated by hard nickel electrodeposition. Then, polyurethane substrate was removed by pyrolysis in a tube furnace with pure argon gas flow. The characteristics of the nickel coatings were studied using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), metallography, and measurement of specific surface area (BET). In the Nickel foam, the compression strength of the electroless foam was calculated as 0.07 MPa and for the electrodeposited foam, this value increased up to 1.1 MPa. In addition, its hardness was measured as 145 Vickers Hardness (HV).